Midwifery education in New Zealand: Education, practice and autonomy.

New Zealand's midwifery education model is intertwined with a practice model which is underpinned by autonomy and partnership. The curriculum prepares students for practice across the scope of midwifery on their own responsibility. While students have formal learning opportunities within educational institutions they spend at least half of their programme learning through authentic work experiences alongside midwives and women.

The Effect of Altitude and Travel on Rugby Union Performance: Analysis of the 2012 Super Rugby Competition.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether playing rugby at altitude or after travel (domestic and international) disadvantaged teams. In a retrospective longitudinal study, all matches (N = 125) played in the 2012 Super Rugby Competition were analyzed for key performance indicators (KPI) from coded game data provided by OPTA sports data company. Matches were played in a home-away format in New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia.

The Cardiac Rehabilitation Inventory: A New Method of Tailoring Patient Support.

Background: Uptake and adherence to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are low, and a contributing factor to this may be the practical difficulties of providing a tailored CR environment suited to individual preferences and needs.

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and test a short questionnaire that CR practitioners can use to understand individual patient need and tailor support accordingly.

Methods: A conceptual framework of engagement in CR was derived from a comprehensive literature review and the content analysis of semistructured interviews with 15 CR patients.

Supporting New Zealand graduate midwives to stay in the profession: An evaluation of the Midwifery First Year of Practice programme.

Background: the transition from undergraduate midwifery student to working as a confident midwife can be challenging for many newly qualified midwives. Supporting a smooth transition may have a positive impact on the confidence and retention of the new graduates within the workforce. In New Zealand the Midwifery First Year of Practice programme (MFYP) was introduced in 2007 as a structured programme of support for new graduate midwives for the whole of their first year of practice.

Women׳s birthplace decision-making, the role of confidence: Part of the Evaluating Maternity Units study, New Zealand.

Objective: to explore women׳s birthplace decision-making and identify the factors which enable women to plan to give birth in a freestanding midwifery-led primary level maternity unit rather than in an obstetric-led tertiary level maternity hospital in New Zealand.

Design: a mixed methods prospective cohort design.

Methods: data from eight focus groups (37 women) and a six week postpartum survey (571 women, 82%) were analysed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics.

Measurement of cardiorespiratory fitness in children from two commonly used field tests after accounting for body fatness and maturity.

Body fat and maturation both influence cardiorespiratory fitness, however few studies have taken these variables into account when using field tests to predict children's fitness levels. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between two field tests of cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m Maximal Multistage Shuttle Run [20-MST], 550 m distance run [550-m]) and direct measurement of VO2max after adjustment for body fatness and maturity levels. Fifty-three participants (25 boys, 28 girls, age 10.

Winning or losing does matter: Acute cardiac admissions in New Zealand during Rugby World Cup tournaments.

Aim: The relationship between watching major sporting events and cardiac hospital admissions is contentious. This study is the first to investigate cardiovascular admissions during Rugby World Cup (RWC) tournaments.

Methods And Results: New Zealand (NZ) public hospital admissions data were analysed for cardiovascular events during the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 RWC tournaments.

High intensity interval training in a real world setting: a randomized controlled feasibility study in overweight inactive adults, measuring change in maximal oxygen uptake.

Background: In research clinic settings, overweight adults undertaking HIIT (high intensity interval training) improve their fitness as effectively as those undertaking conventional walking programs but can do so within a shorter time spent exercising. We undertook a randomized controlled feasibility (pilot) study aimed at extending HIIT into a real world setting by recruiting overweight/obese, inactive adults into a group based activity program, held in a community park.

Methods: Participants were allocated into one of three groups.

Population attributable risks for modifiable lifestyle factors and breast cancer in New Zealand women.

Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed invasive cancer in New Zealand women and modifiable lifestyle risk factors may contribute to this.

Aim: To estimate population attributable risks for modifiable lifestyle factors and breast cancer in New Zealand.

Methods: Estimates of the magnitude of the impact of modifiable lifestyle risk factors for breast cancer (relative risks and odds ratios obtained from published epidemiological studies) and the prevalence of exposure in New Zealand were used to calculate the population attributable risk percent (PAR%) for each risk factor.

Skeletal muscle fat metabolism after exercise in humans: influence of fat availability.

The mechanisms facilitating increased skeletal muscle fat oxidation following prolonged, strenuous exercise remain poorly defined. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of plasma free fatty acid (FFA) availability on intramuscular malonyl-CoA concentration and the regulation of whole-body fat metabolism during a 6-h postexercise recovery period. Eight endurance-trained men performed three trials, consisting of 1.

What influences practice nurses to participate in post-registration education?

Introduction: There is a need for educated primary health nurses to develop their practice, educational and career pathways in response to opportunities emerging from the Primary Health Care Strategy (PHCS). This study aimed to explore the opportunities and constraints encountered by practice nurses when participating in post-registration education.

Methods: This study used exploratory qualitative design, incorporating focus group interviews with 16 practice nurses employed by Pegasus Health, Christchurch.

Negotiating complexities: An ethnographic study of intellectual disability and mental health nursing in New Zealand.

This paper presents the findings from a study undertaken to describe nursing practice in one dual diagnosis (DD; coexisting mental illness and intellectual disability) inpatient unit in New Zealand. A focused ethnographic approach (using fieldwork observations, a review of documents, and five semistructured interviews) was used to gather data. A model of culture was used to analyze data to allow a description of DD nursing practice.

Pre-school children frequently seen but seldom heard in nursing care.

A significant number of users of nursing services are pre-school children, and have a right to be heard in matters affecting their health. Despite nurses' duty to seek and take seriously the views of children in matters concerning children's health, children are rarely directly consulted as consumers of health care. Thus, children's voices are largely unheard in nursing practice.

Nurses' views of family nursing in community contexts: an exploratory study.

In their day to day practice nurses interact with 'family' as a whole in a variety of community locations. Public health, Practice, District, Well child health and Rural nurses participated in a qualitative study in which four focus groups were used to explore the ways in which each nurse integrated 'family' into their practice. Thematic analysis of the data revealed four related themes: the labyrinth of family nursing, relational webs, personal and professional knowing, and contextual determinants.

Enantioselective synthesis of alpha-fluorinated beta2-amino acids.

A methodology for the enantioselective synthesis of alpha-fluorinated beta2-amino acids has been developed from readily available carboxylic acids 3. Conversion to the Evan's oxazolidinone followed by enantioselective fluorination and alkylation gave 7 in high diastereomeric excess (>95%). Subsequent removal of the oxazolidinone and amination at the Bn-protected hydroxyl center gave optically active alpha-fluorinated beta2-amino acids.